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Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: Bad340fish] #1717229
12/29/14 11:03 PM
12/29/14 11:03 PM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 952
Queens, N. Y.
FASTBACK340 Offline OP
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Quote:

Very Cool! I have a 68 as well and that is something that really needs to be done for sure.




What makes the `68 unique is the differences from the `67 & `69, which share ALOT of details (egg crate grilles, reverse lamps on the rear valance, larger tail light area….) But I've always disliked the practicality of those little lights (reminds me of my old `57 VW Beetle; those were TINY!) but I like the way they look. I tried those Pep Boys plug-in LED bulbs: still just a small centralized bit of light. Having people see my brake lights during the day is an issue. That's the reason for the LED conversion, but just the way some people would complain about free money, I knew I'd have some finger waving coming my way. And as someone already mentioned, there's more to the story…..

Driving in Queens, N. Y. is like driving amongst one big dysfunctional drivers-ed class on the roads. If I get your attention, that's my intention. Which brings me to….

Brightness. Much like the way some people like to fire-up their new header installation before the mufflers go on, I posted a full-power, 12 volt head-on shot of the Sun. I know it's bright. I plan on dropping the power. Which brings me to…..

You tie both your tail & brake lights into the LED board. But you MUST install diodes to prevent back-feeding from one circuit to the other. By adding, say…. a higher ohm resistor on your tail light feed and a lower ohm on the brake feed, you have 2 different power input levels creating a difference in brightness. I plan on toning down both the tail AND brake lights.

And as far as traffic laws, I live in Queens, N.Y. Things are a bit "lax" when it comes to an older guy in a special interest car. Besides, there's so much incompetence on the roads….


Anyway, here's some darkness shots with the lights powered by a 9V battery. With the factory lenses they look good! Once I have them in the car I'll play with some dropping resistors to tone them down a bit. With 12V they are a lot brighter! Here's the reverse lights.


And the brake lights…..


Real hard to tell with a digital photo, but I really like them. Nice & bright, but not obnoxious. We do more testing…..


`68 Barracuda 340-S
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: FASTBACK340] #1717230
12/29/14 11:12 PM
12/29/14 11:12 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 24,562
Brookeville, Md
Mr.Yuck Offline
Not enough dumb comments...yet
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Brookeville, Md
back up looks really cool. Be neat to see it on the car. I was worried you 'd see a bunch of red/white dots thru the factory lenses.

Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: Mr.Yuck] #1717231
12/30/14 01:33 AM
12/30/14 01:33 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,005
Tulsa OK
Bad340fish Offline
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I like those, good job!

Currently my backup lights don't work since I removed the console where the switch was. I have considered doing something like you have done but use red LEDs behind the back up lights to make them an auxiliary brake light. So when your tails and turns are on it's just the small lights, hit the brakes and the whole assembly is red. It would probably look dumb but it would be enough of a change to be an eye catcher.

My car has been hit from behind before so that changes my angle on this some also.


68 Barracuda Formula S 340
87 "Chrysler" Conquest
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: Mr.Yuck] #1717232
12/30/14 07:08 PM
12/30/14 07:08 PM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 952
Queens, N. Y.
FASTBACK340 Offline OP
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Quote:

back up looks really cool. Be neat to see it on the car. I was worried you 'd see a bunch of red/white dots thru the factory lenses.




Thanks for the comments guys! I install these pre-made digital taillights at work all the time. I see that there's not much involved in their assembly. A little research, a few failed attempts on a smaller scale…. and I have a working version. Best part is it's not much money in parts, just VERY labor intensive on a back-yard scale. Soldering 68 LED legs in a marathon session was nuts…..plus the resistors, and jumper wires.

But I got what I wanted. If anyone wants to give it a shot, I'll try and help as best as I can. If your good with detail-work, it's not bad. Just requires a little patience.


`68 Barracuda 340-S
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: FASTBACK340] #1717233
12/30/14 08:37 PM
12/30/14 08:37 PM
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 2,936
GA
roadrunninMark Offline
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Looking real nice all complete. If you were going to make them sequential, how would you do that?

Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: roadrunninMark] #1717234
12/30/14 10:57 PM
12/30/14 10:57 PM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 952
Queens, N. Y.
FASTBACK340 Offline OP
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Quote:

Looking real nice all complete. If you were going to make them sequential, how would you do that?




With a kit like this, which I think I can assemble.....


`68 Barracuda 340-S
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: FASTBACK340] #1717235
12/30/14 11:03 PM
12/30/14 11:03 PM
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 25,050
Texas
GoodysGotaCuda Offline
5.7L Hemi, 6spd
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Texas
Nice!


I did a off-the-shelf/DIY setup as well for anyone with round lights that might be interested.

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=67744.msg695422#msg695422


Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: GoodysGotaCuda] #1717236
12/31/14 10:54 AM
12/31/14 10:54 AM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 952
Queens, N. Y.
FASTBACK340 Offline OP
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Quote:

Nice!


I did a off-the-shelf/DIY setup as well for anyone with round lights that might be interested.

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=67744.msg695422#msg695422






I tried that route but found nothing pre-made that looked right. I saw those round ones and thought of you E-body and Camaro guys right away. I still might modify the design a bit. 68 bulbs may be excessive .....

It's all trial & error at this point. The satisfaction was figuring out HOW to make it WORK. Making re-finements is purely esthetics at this point.


`68 Barracuda 340-S
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: FASTBACK340] #1717237
12/31/14 03:20 PM
12/31/14 03:20 PM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 952
Queens, N. Y.
FASTBACK340 Offline OP
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I received a PM from another member asking about actual schematic's on wiring. The link I provided; http://ledcalc.com walk you through. Knowing the generalized voltages of the bulbs used, milli-amp drawn (20 is the baseline from what I've read), and how many LED's used it will explain what, and where, to wire in everything. Believe me, I'm no techno-head that builds electronics, this is my VERY FIRST attempt at this. All I possess is some detail-related hand/eye skills and patience. The site pretty much spells out what to do.



……………………………………………………...
LED lights have a rating called "forward voltage". You ideally want about a 20 milliamp draw. Go to this site http://ledcalc.com plug-in the numbers. Here's an example of voltage. This is from the link I posted above.

As supply voltage:
For molex: 5, 7 and 12 volts
Batteries: 1.5 and 9 volts

As led forward voltages:
Red and green: 2 volts
Blue and white: 3.0 - 3.5 volts

Led current:
20mA will work for most regular leds.
Superbright leds can go from 30mA up to several amps.

Now say you want to add an LED light for an indicator light in your case, this is how I would calculate:

How many bulbs will fit the area? If your using a single WHITE LED you would need a 470 ohm resistor with a 12 volt power supply. If you wanted to use, say 3 bulbs, you would use a 180 ohm resistor, wired into the power side of the LED's, which is the LONGER leg, and ground the other side, switching it on/off from either side.

Click on the link I posted and plug in what your working with. THE SITE ALSO SPELLS OUT A DIAGRAM UNDER THE GURU SETTING. And if there's an odd amount of bulbs, the schematic will break in down into the correct circuits with the correct resistance for the amount of bulbs. Red LED's are 2 volts forward voltage, white 3. Don't forget I used 3mm LED's for the reverse lights for a smaller light, and I used 5mm bulbs for the brake/tail lights.

I'm going to cut & paste this question & answer so hopefully this might help someone else wondering the same thing.

Last edited by FASTBACK340; 12/31/14 03:29 PM.
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: FASTBACK340] #1717238
12/31/14 04:25 PM
12/31/14 04:25 PM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 952
Queens, N. Y.
FASTBACK340 Offline OP
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I'll amend this post once more:

I did a fast search on e-Bay and found light bulb bases sold in bulk specifically for LED conversions. Solder these on to your circuit board harness and plug them into your existing harness.…..


`68 Barracuda 340-S
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: FASTBACK340] #1717239
12/31/14 08:48 PM
12/31/14 08:48 PM
Joined: Nov 2003
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roadrunninMark Offline
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Excellent info guys, I think I will try to make my own led taillights. Also interested in making them sequential.

Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: roadrunninMark] #1717240
12/31/14 10:54 PM
12/31/14 10:54 PM
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Queens, N. Y.
FASTBACK340 Offline OP
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And I'm going to re-vamp everything.... Too many LED's in the tail lights, too close together. Plus I want to follow the contour of the lense better.

Here we go with the esthetics..... To be continued


`68 Barracuda 340-S
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: FASTBACK340] #1717241
01/01/15 01:36 PM
01/01/15 01:36 PM
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 22,695
Bitopia
J
jcc Offline
If you can't dazzle em with diamonds..
jcc  Offline
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BTW, nice groundbreaking on this topic and and for sharing your homework.


Reality check, that half the population is smarter then 50% of the people and it's a constantly contested fact.
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: jcc] #1717242
01/01/15 02:38 PM
01/01/15 02:38 PM
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Queens, N. Y.
FASTBACK340 Offline OP
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Quote:

BTW, nice groundbreaking on this topic and and for sharing your homework.




Revisions..... Revisions.......

I'm thinking less is more. 42 LED's, spread out a bit.... might look and work better. Let me & the Dog run out to the garage and solder this up.

He helps me.....


`68 Barracuda 340-S
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: FASTBACK340] #1717243
01/01/15 08:14 PM
01/01/15 08:14 PM
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Posts: 952
Queens, N. Y.
FASTBACK340 Offline OP
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OK, we're done……

I whipped-up a second board with less bulbs, 26 less to be exact. I like the layout, not crazy about the actual bulb placement. More R & D work needed…..

I've officially reached the point where I'm going to purchase sheets of hi-temp ABS sheet, cut them on my router, and try to assemble THE nicest, most function set I'm capable of. I'll stop only when I reach a point of satisfaction.

Here's the up-dated version compared to the original flame-thrower. I wanted a perimeter and center.



Here it's powered up with a 9V battery…..


As you can see, the outer ring is slightly "off' from where I ideally wanted it. I'm limited to the bulb placement in the pre-drilled holes in the prototype board I bought.


Proper placement of the bulbs is key, plus now I'm thinking of using 3mm bulbs instead of the 5mm, but 3 across the perimeter instead of two. More intensity, less area. More experimenting coming….

Here's my shop-hound checking my solder joints…..


`68 Barracuda 340-S
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: roadrunninMark] #1717244
01/01/15 08:30 PM
01/01/15 08:30 PM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 952
Queens, N. Y.
FASTBACK340 Offline OP
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Quote:

Excellent info guys, I think I will try to make my own led taillights. Also interested in making them sequential.




Make's me feel good to see someone else maybe take a shot at this. Getting it to work is relatively easy. Just takes some effort to get there. I've made 2 sets of boards so far and I see 2-3 more attempts before I have something that "looks right". Fortunately the parts are inexpensive.

Who knows. If I get it nice enough there might be a couple of `68 Barracuda sets on e-Bay in the future….


`68 Barracuda 340-S
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: FASTBACK340] #1717245
01/01/15 08:33 PM
01/01/15 08:33 PM
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 22,695
Bitopia
J
jcc Offline
If you can't dazzle em with diamonds..
jcc  Offline
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J

Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 22,695
Bitopia
So I can do my initials?

And I thought dogs were color blind?


Reality check, that half the population is smarter then 50% of the people and it's a constantly contested fact.
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: jcc] #1717246
01/01/15 08:50 PM
01/01/15 08:50 PM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 952
Queens, N. Y.
FASTBACK340 Offline OP
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Quote:

So I can do my initials?

And I thought dogs were color blind?




Yeah, this is turning into a project (on top of the other projects I have planned for the winter) that's taking on a life of it's own. I really want it to look nice. Initials, words, arrows, whatever. It's all trial & error.

And as for the dog, if he had thumbs I'd have to hide the car key's. That Shepherd is smarter than some of my neighbors kids……


`68 Barracuda 340-S
Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: FASTBACK340] #1717247
01/01/15 10:21 PM
01/01/15 10:21 PM
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roadrunninMark Offline
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I like the "flame throwers". Could you wire something (diode/resistor?) on it to make it less intense?

Re: LED Tail Lights [Re: roadrunninMark] #1717248
01/01/15 11:12 PM
01/01/15 11:12 PM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 952
Queens, N. Y.
FASTBACK340 Offline OP
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Quote:

I like the "flame throwers". Could you wire something (diode/resistor?) on it to make it less intense?




Yes, adding a dropping resistor to the power feed for each circuit will decrease the brightness. I'm still experimenting as I'm totally re-vamping EVERYTHING. This thread may go to sleep for a month (unfortunately, most electronics are shipped from China….) but I do have an even better method up my sleeve that will be even MORE appealing for the DIY'er.

Stay tuned. I'm far from done with this…….


`68 Barracuda 340-S
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